Tape controlled order picking system

ABSTRACT

A punched paper tape controlled electrical control system for operating solenoids to release articles from gravity storage lanes in a warehouse onto a conveyor by which they are conveyed to an output station. The tape controls release of the articles so that they will exit the storage racks, one article per conveyor increment, in a predetermined order. The tape contains drop data for controlling dropping of articles from storage lanes, and shortage data for controlling a printer to print the bay, lane and serial number of an article if a photocell detector fails to detect exit thereof. The tape also contains control data for controlling purge of an order, that is, completion of an order without starting the partially overlapping next order punched on the tape. The tape further contains other control data for operation of the system. The system operation is synchronized by means of a rotary cam switch preferably driven by the conveyor to control the time of dropping of articles and checking for shortage at the photocell detector.

United States Patent [1 1 Baker .et al.

[ Dec. 11, 1973 [541 ,TAPE CONTROLLED ORDER PICKING SYSTEM [75] Inventors: Dale A. Baker; John M. McCarthy,

both of Milwaukee, Wis.

[7 3] Assignee: Cutler-Hammer, Inc., Milwaukee,

Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-George H. Libman Attorney-l-lugh R. Rather et al.

A 6200. MPXA/ 6800p MPX 1 BAYO 571 v ABSTRACT A punched paper tape controlled electrical control system for operating solenoids to release articles from gravity storage lanes in a warehouse onto a conveyor by which they are conveyed to an output station. The tape controls release of the articles so that they will exit the storage racks, one article per conveyor increment, in a predetermined order The tape contains drop data for controlling dropping of articles from storage lanes, and shortage data for controlling a printer to print the bay, lane and serial number of an article if a photocell detector fails to detect exit thereof. The tape also contains control data for controlling purge of an order, that is, completion of an order without starting the partially overlapping next order punched on the tape. The tape further contains other control data for operation of the system. The system operation is synchronized by means of a rotary cam switch preferably driven by the conveyor to control the time of dropping of articles and checking for shortage at the photocell detector.

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1. In an order picking system for a warehouse having a storage area including a plurality of article-storing lanes, and a conveyor having defined spaces for receiving articles released from the lanes and for conveying them to a collection station, the combination comprising: an article release device for each lane; synchronizing control means operable in time with the article conveyor for providing timing signals; and an electrical system under the control of said timing signals for releasing articles into the defined spaces comprising: a code bearing medium having article picking codes thereon arranged to control selection of lanes and release of articles for exit in a controlled order, and having system control codes; means for reading said codes from said medium in sequence; a register for registering said article picking codes; logic circuits for recognizing said system control codes and for providing control signals in response thereto; program control means; means for initiating operation of said system; means responsive to said initiation of operation of said system and said timing signals and control signals for operating said program control means to control said code reading means to intermittently read the article picking codes and corresponding system control codes relating to each article to be released and to store each article picking code in said register pending use thereof for lane selection; means responsive to said timing signals, system control codes and said program control means for transferring each article picking code from said register to select the lane identified thereby; and means responsive to said timing signals for energizing the article release device of the selected lane thereby to release an article into a defined space on the conveyor.
 2. In an order picking system for a warehouse having a storage area including a plurality of article-storing lanes, and a conveyor having defined spaCes for receiving articles released from the lanes and for conveying them to a collection station, the combination comprising: an article release device for each lane; synchronizing control means operable in time with the article conveyor for providing timing signals; and an electrical system under the control of said timing signals for releasing articles into the defined spaces comprising: a code bearing medium having article picking codes thereon arranged to control release of articles for exit in a controlled order, and having system control codes; means for reading said codes from said medium in sequence; a register for registering said article picking codes; logic circuits for recognizing said system control codes and for providing control signals in response thereto; program control means; means for initiating operation of said system; means responsive to said initiation of operation of said system and said timing signals and control signals for operating said program control means to control energization of said article release devices to release articles into the defined spaces in accordance with said article release codes; said code bearing medium also having shortage codes spaced thereon so as to be read at times when released articles are supposed to be passing an exit point and the last shortage codes of a given order overlapping on said medium with respect to first article picking codes of the next order; an article detector at said exit point; means operable when said article detector does not detect an article corresponding to a shortage code for recording a shortage indication; and said electrical system also comprising a purge logic circuit for controlling completion of an order of articles by checking shortages followed by stopping the system without releasing articles from the next order appearing in overlapping relation on said code bearing medium.
 3. In an order picking system for a warehouse having a storage area including a plurality of article-storing lanes, and a conveyor having defined spaces for receiving articles released from the lanes and for conveying them to a collection station, the combination comprising: an article release device for each lane; synchronizing control means operable in time with the article conveyor for providing timing signals; and an electrical system under the control of said timing signals for releasing articles into the defined spaces comprising: a code bearing medium having article picking codes thereon arranged to control release of articles for exit in a controlled order, and having system control codes; means for reading said codes from said medium in sequence; a register for registering said article picking codes; logic circuits for recognizing said system control codes and for providing control signals in response thereto; program control means; means for initiating operation of said system; means responsive to said initiation of operation of said system and said timing signals and control signals for operating said program control means to control energization of said article release devices to release articles into the defined spaces in accordance with said article release codes; said synchronizing control means comprising: a pulse generating device for generating article release pulses for the conveyor increments during which the defined spaces are passing by lanes to cause release of the articles from the selected lanes; and said pulse generating device also generating a pacer pulse for each conveyor increment to control the time when the registered article release code is used to select an article release device of a particular lane which release device is thereafter energized by an article release pulse.
 4. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein said pulse generating device comprises: means for generating a plurality of time-spaced article release pulseS for each conveyor increment to enable preselection of the instant of article release with respect to passage of the defined space to insure that the article will enter said defined space.
 5. In an order picking system for a warehouse having a storage area including a plurality of article-storing lanes, and a conveyor having defined sequential spaces for receiving articles released from the lanes and for conveying them past a shortage detecting point to a collection station; the combination comprising: an article release device for each lane; synchronizing control means operable in time with the article conveyor for providing timing signals; and a logic system under the control of said timing signals for controlling the release of articles from the lanes so as to fill all the conveyor spaces comprising: a code bearing medium having a plurality of successive predetermined records thereon; each such record including an article release code and/or an article shortage code and control codes for controlling the system program; a code reader for reading the codes of a record in sequence; an article release code register for registering each article release code when it is read; an article shortage code register for registering each article shortage code when it is read; a shortage printer; logic circuits for recognizing said control codes and for providing control signals in response thereto; a programmer in said logic system; means for initiating operation of the system; means operable upon said initiation of operation for operating said logic system including said programmer under the control of said control signals, article release codes and timing signals to energize said article release devices; an article detector at an exit point; means operable when said article detector fails to detect an article at a time when an article that was scheduled for release should be passing thereby for setting in said programmer a shortage printing sequence causing transfer of the article shortage code from its register to said shortage printer and for operating the latter to print the shortage code that identifies the missing article; and means operable when said article detector detects an article for causing said programmer to skip said shortage printing sequence.
 6. The invention defined in claim 5, wherein said logic system also comprises: a purge logic circuit for controlling shortage checking of the remaining released articles of an order without releasing any articles of the subsequent order whose article release codes may overlap the remaining shortage code records of the present order; a manual selector switch for transferring said system from normal automatic operation to purge operation thereby to cause said purge logic circuit to provide a purge execute signal when a control code indicative of start of a new order release code is recognized by said control codes recognizing logic circuits; and means in said system responsive to said purge execute signal for inhibiting release of any articles for the new order.
 7. The invention defined in claim 6, wherein said purge logic circuit comprises: means for providing a purge complete signal when a control code indicative of start of a new order shortage code is recognized by said control codes recognizing logic circuits; and means in said system responsive to said purge complete signal for setting said programmer to stop the reading.
 8. The invention defined in claim 7, wherein said logic system comprises: means responsive to said purge complete signal upon reoperation of said means for initiating operation of the system for setting said programmer to cause reversal of said tape reader to a point ahead of the beginning of said new order release codes followed by normal forward operation of said tape reader to read the new order release codes.
 9. The invention defined in claim 5, wherein said logic system also comprisEs: a record on said medium wherein the article release code is omitted whereby an empty space is deliberately introduced on the conveyor to separate different classes of articles; and said control codes include a no-print code in the record corresponding to the exit of said empty space past said article detector; and means responsive to said no-print code for inhibiting the printer.
 10. The invention defined in claim 9, wherein said logic system further comprises: an advance-printer-tape code combined with said no-print code; and means responsive to said advance printer tape code for advancing the printer tape one normal printing space to provide a visual gap indication of where the different classes divide.
 11. In an order picking system for a warehouse having a storage area including a plurality of bays each having a plurality of gravity-feed article-storing lanes, and a conveyor having sequential spaces defined by pushers with each space being a conveyor increment that is a function of the width of a bay so that one lane per bay can drop an article into a defined space at a time, the combination comprising: an article-drop device for each lane; a synchronizing switch operable in time with conveyor travel to provide a pacer pulse and a drop pulse during each conveyor increment; and a logic system including a programmer under the control of said pulses for controlling the drop of articles from the lanes so as to fill all the conveyor spaces comprising: a punched tape having a plurality of successive, programmed, records thereon, each record including control data and article drop data and article shortage data, with the article drop data at the beginning of a second order overlapping shortage data at the end of the previous order as to at least some of the tape records between the two orders, each drop data consisting of at least one code having a frame of bay code followed by a frame of lane code constituting a paired bay and lane code; a code reader for reading the frames of code of a record in sequence; a drop data shift register for receiving the bay and lane codes from the code reader; a shortage data shift register for receiving the shortage data codes from the code reader; a shortage printer; logic circuits for recognizing said control data and providing control signals corresponding thereto; means operable at will for initiating operation of said system; means responsive to said initiation of operation for operating said logic system including said programmer under the control of said control data, paired bay and lane code, pacer pulse and drop pulse to select and energize the selected article drop device; a shortage detector at an exit point; and means operable when said shortage detector detects or fails to detect an article under the control of said pacer pulse for inhibiting printing or printing, respectively, the shortage code that was previously registered in said shortage data shift register.
 12. The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said logic system including said programmer comprises: means for detecting the reading of an unpaired bay or lane code; and means responsive to said detecting means for controlling said programmer to skip the dropping program for that record and for causing the tape reader to continue with reading the next record.
 13. The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said logic system including said programmer comprises: an inhibit logic circuit for recognizing a bay or lane code that is higher in value than the warehouse capacity and for providing an inhibit signal in response thereto; and means responsive to said inhibit signal for preventing the generation of a drop pulse for the corresponding tape record.
 14. The invention defined in claim 11, wherein said control data on said punched tape comprises: a first frame of control code indicative of the start of each record; a second frame of contrOl code indicative of the end of each record; means in said logic system under the control of said first frame of control code for setting said programmer to control reading of the remainder of the data in the corresponding record; and means in said logic system under the control of said second frame of control code for setting said programmer to control processing of the drop data read from the corresponding record.
 15. The invention defined in claim 14, wherein: a record on said punched tape consists of said first frame of control code immediately followed by said second frame of control code when dropping of an article is to be skipped for the corresponding conveyor increment. 